Tips to Use Wine for Cooking

The Christmas season is officially here. We know you have stacked a bunch of wine bottles in your last supermarket visit. But are you going to drink them all up? Why not do something nice and different from it? Yes, we are referring to baking and cooking with wine. Obviously, you will not use those expensive ones in this, but what about the wild-card entrants in your wine stock?

But why are we advocating the use of wine so much? Ellie from TFTH has the perfect answer for you – Wine is the ideal fat substitute in recipes. It is the key reason why more and more people have started using wine for cooking over drinking it as a barrage with their meals.

Wine and Fat Replacement

See, when you are trying to get rid of the fat content in any dish, the only thing that you need to do is eliminate it with other ingredients that help substitute the moisture lost. Can wine be that substitute? Most definitely yes! How? Let us find out. Here, we will enlist some ways in which wine can help you be the perfect fat substitute.

1. Jennifer, an educator with TopAssignmentExperts, says that it has been eight years that she has been sauteing her veggies in wine. Seems like news to you? Well, try it, and you will love the difference. The traditional way to saute the vegetables in butter or oil sure works well, but how about you add wine as the main ingredient and use only a little oil for flavor and moisture? Try it, and you will 100% thank us.

2. Wine can also be used in your cake recipe. See, if you have been using a three-fourth cup of oil in your cake recipe, replace it entirely with a three-fourth cup of white wine or dessert wine, and you will love the taste. It will also be helpful to know how many ounces in a shot and the alcohol content of the wine you’ll be using so that your wine won’t overpower the other ingredients.

3. Another way to use wine as the perfect fat substitute is by making a marinade. So, instead of using ½ cup of oil, you can divide the composition and opt for ¼ cup of wine.
Wine can be used in light cooking. 

• Wine adds a distinctive flavor and aroma to your fish.

Fish lovers around the world relish the deep-fried tartar sauce dipped fish. But do you know it completely takes away the nutritional benefits of the fish? It is because of the high fat content in your recipe. So, now the ideal way to get the requisite flavor and moisture without overpowering it with the fat content is cooking your fish with wine. So, while your fish simmers down, pour some wine in the pan. When the wine starts boiling, you can poach the fish in it. If you want to bake it, you can drizzle a spoon or two of wine onto it and then bake it in the foil package.

• Wine for marinades

Have you tried using wine in marinades? If not, you are missing out on something great. Wine can be an excellent acid ingredient for marinades. It helps you soften the meat exterior and makes it delectable. Not just that, wine even adds a reasonable degree of flavor to your dishes. Adding a wine-based marinade will keep your poultry, seafood, or meat moist while cooking.

• Wine can help simmer the food.

Add a little wine to the dishes, which you prepare on the skillet in an oven, a slow cooker, or the stove, and you will see a massive change in how your dishes taste. Wine tends to simmer your food and add some flavor and moisture to it.

• Wine is the perfect ingredient for bakers

A lot of you may have used the wine for muffin or cake preparation, or you may have tasted a wine cake or muffin in a bakery, and you are aware of the upliftment that it can bring to these desserts. When you use wine or sherry as a replacement to oil in your cake, it significantly lowers your cake’s calories. More so, it adds distinctive flavors to the dessert that are unparalleled.

Cooking with wine

Now, before you start cooking with wine, there are a few things that you should know. What are these? Let us find out.

• Use the wine’s subtle flavors in your dish.

Wish to add a very mild and subtle food-like flavor to your dishes? Well, it is possible by using wine in dishes that have the following foods:

a. White wine – Melon, Citrus, Mushrooms, Caramel, Apple, Pear, Olive, Pineapple, and Vanilla

b. Red Wine – Chocolate, Cherries, Currants, Berries, Oranges, Berries, Peaches, and Coffee

• Tannins and acids

The red wines have tannins in them. Tannins are the reason for the bitterness in the wine. You can equate this bitterness to the one you experience when you drink black tea or coffee. So, these wines go incredibly well with your hearty foods or the strong-flavored dishes such as the delectable, juicy steak. Jessica, an online calculus tutor, says no better palate cleanser than tannins if you add it to protein-rich dishes, like meat.

Usually, red and white acid is called the acid because of the sharp bite you experience when you taste this wine. This is mostly similar to the first punch you get when you taste lemon juice or vinegar. The use of acid can up-lift the natural flavors in even the mildest food like fish. It is also the reason why restaurants always serve fish with a lemon wedge.

• Sweet wine or Dry wine? 

Dry wine has a very high alcohol content, but the sugar content in it is minimal. Then there is the sweet wine, which has a high degree of natural sugar from the grapes. So, depending on the kind of inclusion you need in your recipes, you can pick your wine.

Bottom Line
Channelize the master chef in you, and make the most of these tips mentioned above, and enjoy a distinct delight for your palate with wine.